Samuel B. Martin
This is the history of our beautiful historic home in the North Main Historic District of downtown Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The home was built in 1908 for, or by, Samuel B. Martin. The home is listed on the Mississippi Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.
This clipping below is the listing from the National Register of Historic Places. You can view the Historic Resource Inventory Sheet here: page 1 and page 2.
I found this information on Mr. Martin in the Mississippi Volume III Biography, originally printed in 1907:
"Martin, Samuel B., who stands at the head of the Martin Printing Company, of Hattiesburg, has a finely equipped plant and conducts a prosperous job-printing business, while the work turned out is of the highest type of excellence as regards letterpress and general makeup. Mr. Martin was born in the city of Augusta, Ga., May 22, 1870 and is the son of William D. and Jennie (Russell) Martin, the former of whom was born in Baltimore, Md., and the latter in Waynesboro, Miss. Samuel B. completed his education in the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson, Tenn., and in 1886 initiated his apprenticeship in the printing business by securing a position in the office of the semi-weekly Whig, published in Jackson, Tenn. He soon acquired an excellent knowledge of the practical details of the "art preservative" and has never wavered in his allegiance to the same, while he has been successful in his operations in an independent way. In 1889 Mr. Martin went to Kansas City, Mo., where he was employed for a time in the office of the Kansas City Times, later locating in Paducah, Ky., where he became a senior member of the firm which conducted business under the title of the Billings-Martin Printing Company. In the spring of 1902 Mr. Martin came to Hattiesburg, Miss., and in the following year he here founded the Martin Printing Company, whose business has been built up to a most substantial one under his able and careful management and control. In his political proclivities Mr. Martin is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democracy, while his religious faith is that of the Christian church, and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic Order."
Samuel B. Martin was married to Virginia D. (Dobbins) Martin. Virginia is the daughter of V W (C W) Dobbins (born 1852 in Alabama) and Lettiles Dobbins (born 1852 in Alabama) and she has two brothers and two sisters. Her parents were married in 1871 and she was born in 1886 in Alabama. Some records show her as being born in 1880 and some in 1884. In the 1910 Federal Census Samuel is recorded as being 38 and Virginia is 24. He stated his first marriage was at 24 and Virginia stated her was at 21, but those numbers don't add up. In the 1920 Federal Census he is recorded as being 49 and she is 40, which doesn't match up to previous data. However, in the 1930 Federal Census he is 59 and she is 44. Therefor I believe he was born in 1870 and she in 1886. There seemed to be about 15 years between them.
Martin Printing no longer exists in Hattiesburg, however it must have been a very busy printing company because I can still find books printed by them on Amazon. I also found this advertisement for Martin Printing in a free digital book on Amazon.
I went to the Hattiesburg Historical Society (HHS) to look up the history of owners in the home. They have directories going back as far as 1929. I already know that Samuel B Martin had the house built, or built it himself, in 1908. At the time Martin Printing was at 115 E Front St. The oldest directory they have is 1929 and it shows Samuel as still living in the house.
The records I found on Ancestry.com show that in 1920 they stated that there was no mortgage on the home in the Census. By 1930, according to the Census, they are still in the house and Virginia's mother, Letitia D. Dobbin (who is 79 at the time) is living with them.
Unfortunately the HHS is missing the directories from 1930 to 1934. Therefor I don't know what transpired in those years. However, by 1935 Estus E. Hudson and Jessie M. have moved from their home on 309 Hemphill St to 1406 N Main St and Samuel has moved into his printing company at 115 E Front St.
They continued to live in the home until it was sold to a family from Chile in 1987. That family had the home until 2007. While they had the home they made significant changes to the yard, removed one fireplace in what is now the primary bedroom, and added a primary bathroom in its place.
The home was repossessed in 2007 and the bank had it for 5 years. It was then sold to Vonda and Gary Loper, who owned several rental properties. They had the intent to use it as a rental property. When they purchased the home none of the walls had drywall. They were still covered with cloth and wallpaper. She added drywall to the walls in the living room, studio, guest bedroom, master bedroom, and the dressing room. The other rooms have a cardboard like covering over the walls.
Vonda also replaced the wood flooring in the family room and did some leveling of the floor. She removed the carpets from the master and the dressing room, and the closet in the master. She also removed the under house heater in the dressing room and all the radiators.
Vonda never finished the remodel and decided to sell the house instead. We think it was due to her divorce. When we first found the house I checked the tax records and noticed she and her husband Gary owned 8 homes. Shortly after I checked the tax record again and noticed that Gary owned 4 and she owned 4, separately. During our closing she told us she was recently divorced and had become engaged.
We purchased the home on 06/02/2014. I discovered, through research with the City's Historic Preservation Planner, that the layout of the house in 1925 was pretty much what the house looks like now, except without the back patio, so it appears all the additions were done to the house before 1925 by the original owner. Somewhere before 1925 there was also a garage on what we now call our parking pad. The garage was taken down by Jorge Stockebrand because it was starting to tip over. This was approved by the Historical Commission.
You can see the layout of the land in this drawing below from the city records in 1925. You can enlarge the drawing by clicking on it.
A second structure was added somewhere between 1931 and 1949 in the back left corner of the yard. That structure was gone before 1990. We have no idea what happened to that one. You can see the drawing below from the City records somewhere between 1931 and 1949. You can enlarge the drawing by clicking on it.
The Hudsons added the back patio in the '50s, which is obvious due to the iron scrollwork supports holding up the patio roof and the iron scrollwork stair rails. This drawing below comes from some time between 1967 and 1986, after Estus Hudson died and his wife Jesse was living alone in the house. It shows only 1 garage, 1 shed, and the house with the front porch and back patio.
Vonda also replaced the wood flooring in the family room and did some leveling of the floor. She removed the carpets from the master and the dressing room, and the closet in the master. She also removed the under house heater in the dressing room and all the radiators.
Vonda never finished the remodel and decided to sell the house instead. We think it was due to her divorce. When we first found the house I checked the tax records and noticed she and her husband Gary owned 8 homes. Shortly after I checked the tax record again and noticed that Gary owned 4 and she owned 4, separately. During our closing she told us she was recently divorced and had become engaged.
We purchased the home on 06/02/2014. I discovered, through research with the City's Historic Preservation Planner, that the layout of the house in 1925 was pretty much what the house looks like now, except without the back patio, so it appears all the additions were done to the house before 1925 by the original owner. Somewhere before 1925 there was also a garage on what we now call our parking pad. The garage was taken down by Jorge Stockebrand because it was starting to tip over. This was approved by the Historical Commission.
You can see the layout of the land in this drawing below from the city records in 1925. You can enlarge the drawing by clicking on it.
A second structure was added somewhere between 1931 and 1949 in the back left corner of the yard. That structure was gone before 1990. We have no idea what happened to that one. You can see the drawing below from the City records somewhere between 1931 and 1949. You can enlarge the drawing by clicking on it.
The Hudsons added the back patio in the '50s, which is obvious due to the iron scrollwork supports holding up the patio roof and the iron scrollwork stair rails. This drawing below comes from some time between 1967 and 1986, after Estus Hudson died and his wife Jesse was living alone in the house. It shows only 1 garage, 1 shed, and the house with the front porch and back patio.
